ISLAM A WORLD CIVILIZATION

"Thus We have appointed you a middle nation, that you may be witnesses

upon mankind." (Quran, surah 11:43)

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

Islam was destined to become a world religion and to create a civilization

which stretched from one end of the globe to the other. Already during the

early Muslim caliphates, first the Arabs, then the Persians and later the

Turks set about to create classical Islamic civilization. Later, in the 13th

century, both Africa and India became great centers of Islamic civilization

and soon thereafter Muslim kingdoms were established in the Malay

Indonesian world while Chinese Muslims flourished throughout china.

Islam is a religion for all people from whatever race or background they

might be. That is why Islamic civilization is based on a unity which stands

completely against any racial or ethnic discrimination. Such major racial

and ethnic groups as the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Africans, Indians, Chinese

and Malays in addition to numerous smaller units embraced Islam and

contributed to the building of Islamic civilization. Moreover, Islam was not

opposed to learning from the earlier civilizations and incorporating their

science, learning, and culture into its own world view, as long as they did

not oppose the principles of Islam. Each ethnic and racial group which

embraced Islam made its contribution to the one Islamic civilization to

which everyone belonged. The sense of brotherhood and sisterhood was so

much emphasized that it overcame all local attachments to a particular

tribe, race, or language-all of which became subservient to the universal

brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam.

The global civilization thus created by Islam permitted people of diverse

ethnic backgrounds to work together in cultivation various arts and

sciences. Although the civilization was profoundly Islamic, even non

Muslim "people of the book" participated in the intellectual activity whose

fruits belonged to everyone. The scientific climate was reminiscent of the

present situation in America where scientists and men and women of

learning from all over the world are active in the advancement of

knowledge which belongs to everyone.

The global civilization created by Islam also succeeded in activating the

mind and thought of the people who entered its fold. As a result of Islam,

the nomadic Arabs became torch-bearers of science and learning. The

Persians who had created a great civilization before the rise of Islam

nevertheless produced much more science and learning in the Islamic

period than before. The same can be said of the Turks and other peoples

who embraced Islam. The religion of Islam was itself responsible not only

for the creation of a world civilization in which people of many different

ethnic backgrounds participated, but it played a central role in developing

intellectual and cultural life on a scale not seen before. For some eight

hundred years Arabic remained the major intellectual and scientific

language of the world. During the centuries following the rise of Islam,

Muslim dynasties ruling in various parts of the Islamic world bore witness

to the flowering of Islamic culture and thought. In fact this tradition of

intellectual activity was eclipsed only at the beginning of modern times as a

result of the weakening of faith among Muslims combined with external

domination. And today this activity has begun anew in many parts of the

Islamic world now that the Muslims have regained their political

independence.